Just curious how close your (both conservatives and liberals) perception of wealth distribution reflects the reality of wealth distribution in the United States. Be honest. If our perceptions about reality are rightly or wrongly skewed one way or another, it helps to clarify why we (both liberals and conservatives) believe some of the things we do.

I remember when I was 20 or so and my girlfriend (now wife) lived with me in a crappy little apartment. We got a discover card with a 3k limit (this was 1990 or so) and I remember thinking "Hey, the payment is only like 100.00 a month, I can afford that!" And whack whack whack, we filled that card up with a ton of crap. Ended up borrowing more on other stuff to pay that thing off and "consolidate". I don't blame discover, I blame myself. It took us almost 15 years to get all out of debt from the stupid shit we did when we were young. If any blame goes to the credit card companies, it was that they made the credit available in the first place. But, it's a free country and nobody put a gun to my head. I was just young and stupid. And I paid for it...oh boy did I pay.

Heh...I did the same thing, including college books,vacations, buying a 5,000 engagement ring on credit at a jeweler that I had to pay off for years , even after we broke up! Everyone has to learn...credit is kind of the a sports car...sometimes you have to have a couple wrecks before you learn the power....

tell me what percent of total tax the bottom 40% pay....and tell me what percent the top 20 pay?

tell me who pays more than their share and who pays less?

Just do this without BS and page after page of garbage.......answer the simple question.

The only person who is using unfair is you. I am not arguing whether or not tax rates are fair, the fair comment in the article was in response to conservatives saying the tax rate is currently unfair to the rich. I was also responding to the comment that poor people pay a negative tax rate, which you now, through your own evidence, says otherwise. I was also responding to the comment that the rich don't get a tax refund and provided evidence otherwise.

Thanks for admitting that you guys don't bother to actually research the B.S. you sprout. Thanks for admitting that you enjoy your own ignorance. I'm sure Fox News will tell you what to believe in small sound bytes that don't require reading.

/If you conservatives would actually post evidence to any of the following Lies, I would read it: 1)the poor are poor because they are lazy 2) the poor don't pay taxes
//everything I have post in this thread has been on those two topics

The only person who is using unfair is you. I am not arguing whether or not tax rates are fair, the fair comment in the article was in response to conservatives saying the tax rate is currently unfair to the rich. I was also responding to the comment that poor people pay a negative tax rate, which you now, through your own evidence, says otherwise. I was also responding to the comment that the rich don't get a tax refund and provided evidence otherwise.

Next time try reading the links.

Poor people pay less than their share of taxes.....some do pay an overall negative rate...look at the chart...the ONLY people that have a negative ratio of taxes paid to income generated ARE POOR PEOPLE...

Youre seriously not trying to say that no one pays a negative tax rate, are you?

There's just no way to get around this.......is three TENTHS of one percent too much of a burden for you?

Is 70 percent of the burden falling on 20% of the population not enough for you?

the middle 60% of the population paying 30% of the taxes seem out of line?

Cry me a river

This post tells me that you don't understand percents as applied to the tax system. Let me see if I can explain it to you. When 10 percent of the population has more wealth that the bottom 50 percent, they are going to pay more in taxes. There is nothing unfair about that. Who do you think pays more property tax, the millionaire with multiple, rich houses, or the broke guy renting a house? If you want the poor to pay more in taxes you have to actually give them something to tax. You cannot tax nothing.

Conservative don't understand percents apparently.

And again, I am not trying to argue in this thread that tax rates are unfair. I am responding to your lie that the Poor have a negative tax rate and that only poor people get a refund. I am not trying to say what they pay is too much of burden. Keep trying. I am sure you will figure out my reason for the post eventually.

/I think we can both agree though that the middle class gets screw the most
//the rich can afford the best tax audits, the poor simply have nothing to tax
///for the record I think we should all pay more in taxes

Poor people pay less than their share of taxes.....some do pay an overall negative rate...look at the chart...the ONLY people that have a negative ratio of taxes paid to income generated ARE POOR PEOPLE...

Youre seriously not trying to say that no one pays a negative tax rate, are you?

When you take into account all taxes, no.
Also, you didn't read my articles. There are Rich individuals and companies that pay a negative income tax rate effectively(since you want to focus on income), why do you not get outraged at that.

Spoiler, these articles only talk about income tax. From an article I posted earlier.

"Absolutely not. 46% of Americans did not have any federal income tax liability, but this is not the full story. Everyone with a job pays payroll taxes, the federal taxes that pay for Social Security, Medicare, and Unemployment Insurance. Everyone who drives pays state and federal gas taxes. People without federal income tax liabilities can have state or local income tax liabilities. And anyone who buys anything is subject to sales taxes.

But among the 47% of Americans who do not have federal income tax liability, almost half are retired. That's right--retirees do not pay federal income taxes because they do not have income--because they are retired. The rest are so poor that they do not earn enough money to actually have a federal income tax liability (some are also students, living on student loans, not earning enough have a federal income tax liability)."

/if you would read what I post you wouldn't try to make arguments I already addressed.

This post tells me that you don't understand percents as applied to the tax system. Let me see if I can explain it to you. When 10 percent of the population has more wealth that the bottom 50 percent, they are going to pay more in taxes. There is nothing unfair about that. Who do you think pays more property tax, the millionaire with multiple, rich houses, or the broke guy renting a house? If you want the poor to pay more in taxes you have to actually give them something to tax. You cannot tax nothing.

Conservative don't understand percents apparently.

And again, I am not trying to argue in this thread that tax rates are unfair. I am responding to your lie that the Poor have a negative tax rate and that only poor people get a refund. I am not trying to say what they pay is too much of burden. Keep trying. I am sure you will figure out my reason for the post eventually.

/I think we can both agree though that the middle class gets screw the most
//the rich can afford the best tax audits, the poor simply have nothing to tax
///for the record I think we should all pay more in taxes

Stop looking for handouts.

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“The American people are tired of liars and people who pretend to be something they’re not.” - Hillary Clinton